www.nfte.org<\/a>) Howe describes his
\naim with this record as being an exercise in building arrangements
\nto fit the moods of these twelve Dylan songs. Through his choices
\nof guest vocalists and timbres, I think Howe has succeeded,
\nalthough in several cases (notably “Lay, Lady, Lay”) he perhaps
\nsticks a bit close to the original Dylan versions.<\/p>\nTribute albums are often an exercise in triviality and recently
\nhave become almost ridiculous in their samey quality – especially
\nthose for progressive bands. The ELP and Rush tributes perpetrated
\nby Magna Carta Records are nearly laughable. On the other hand,
\nsomething like
\nEncomium<\/i>, the Zeppelin tribute that came out a while ago,
\nfeatures a variety of flavor-of-the-month groups (Hootie, 4
\nNon-Blondes). But Howe stays out of this rut by introducing quite a
\nvariety of tunes and a variety of arrangements. When I get around
\nto compiling a CD-R of my favorite Dylan covers, you can bet that
\nHowe’s “Sad-Eyed Lady” and “Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll” will
\nbe on there beside Hendrix’s “All Along The Watchtower” and the
\nByrds’ magnificent “Mr. Tambourine Man”.<\/p>\n
What Dylan fans might enjoy about this collection is that Howe
\ndoesn’t do the ‘typical’ tunes – you’ll not hear “Like A Rolling
\nStone”, “Mr. Tambourine Man”, etc. here. The only real greatest
\nhits are “Lay, Lady, Lay” and “Just Like A Woman”. Howe, instead,
\ndigs up some of the better forgotten tunes from Dylan’s early 60s
\nfolk trilogy and tweaks their arrangements, and even does an
\nunreleased Dylan song (“Well, Well, Well”). Also, the atmospheres
\nare nearly always appropriate to the song.<\/p>\n
What Yes fans will enjoy are: great electric and acoustic work
\nby Howe, Jon Anderson’s magnificent vocal on “Sad-Eyed Lady Of The
\nLowlands”, Geoff Downes keyboard textures, and Annie Haslam’s work
\non “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”.<\/p>\n
Howe sings four songs, and although twenty years ago that might
\nhave prophecied disaster, his voice isn’t bad at all, although it
\nstill has that homespun, gravelly, not-always-quite-in-tune quality
\nto it.<\/p>\n
Specific tracks that merit mention here are:<\/p>\n
1. “Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands”, Dylan’s 1966 12-minute
\ncenterpiece on
\nBlonde On Blonde<\/i>, features quite simply the finest vocal
\nperformance Jon Anderson has ever waxed. Howe’s organ and guitar
\nwork are excellent, particularly a gorgeous lyrical solo toward the
\nend. This one track is worth the cost of the disc twice over.<\/p>\n
2. “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, one of the great acoustic
\nsongs from
\nBringing It All Back Home<\/i>, is treated to a faster, shuffly
\nrhythm and a magnificent Annie Haslam vocal. Haslam, formerly of
\nRenaissance, seems a poor match for this song, but she pulls it off
\nvery nicely.<\/p>\n
3. “Just Like A Woman” is given a happier, but tender treatment,
\nwith Geoff Downes (Asia, ex-Yes) on keyboards and Howe providing a
\nvery good vocal performance.<\/p>\n
4. “Well, Well, Well”, an unreleased Dylan tune, is an intense
\ngospel-feeling romp featuring P. P. Arnold on vocals. It’s very
\ngood, a shame Dylan himself never recorded it, as it includes some
\npretty good lyrics.<\/p>\n
5. “The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll”, Dylan’s resigned
\nprotest of unnecessary killing and the fact that justice just is
\nnot color-blind, is done very nicely, Dean Dyson’s gutteral voice
\nadds a heavier feel to the vocals and Howe presents a very
\nSpanish-feeling backdrop, featuring Anna Palm’s electric
\nviolin.<\/p>\n
There are one or two minor missteps, but on the whole this is a
\ngood album and a fitting tribute to Dylan’s genius from one of the
\nbest guitarists in the world. You may start
\nPortraits Of Bob Dylan<\/i> expecting guitar-hero pyrotechnics
\nand sloppy guest vocals, but will end it impressed at Howe’s
\nability to create especially appropriate and impressive
\narrangements of some of rock music’s most enduring tunes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":27939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6792],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39329","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-steve-howe","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39329"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}